


I Look and Finally I See

by AlmostSilent



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Grantaire is secretly smart, M/M, Pining Grantaire (Les Misérables), Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, but this is just the beginning of them being friends, the last line hints at them getting together in the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmostSilent/pseuds/AlmostSilent
Summary: Enjolras has never really paid attention to Grantaire outside of meetings, gathering with their friends to get their college acceptance letters changes all of that. Now...they might actually be something like friends.
Relationships: (hints at future) Enjolras/Grantaire, Enjolras & Grantaire (Les Misérables)
Kudos: 16





	I Look and Finally I See

**Author's Note:**

> Another work I've dug up from 2014 that was never posted. This is the last one though I think. Now I'm gonna see about finishing some of the (27!) unfinished works I have for this fandom.
> 
> This was beta'd only by Grammarly, so if you spot any mistakes don't be afraid to point them out.

Enjolras grabbed the stack of letters from his desk and shoved them into his bag. He could tell some of them were acceptance letters simply because they were larger and thicker than they'd need to be for a rejection letter. But they'd all agreed to open their letters together. It had been Combeferre's idea that they all apply to the same schools, none of them wanted to be split up at this point. It hadn't taken long to choose a selection of schools that offered all the right courses for each of them, with a promise that they'd open the letters together and then pick the school they'd all gotten into. Enjolras' friends were a smart group of people, even if some of them (Grantaire) liked to pretend they weren't.

It didn't take long for Enjolras to drive to the coffee shop that they'd been meeting at for years, ever since Enjolras and Combeferre had met Courfeyrac their first year of High School. It had started out with the three of them, they became inseparable almost instantly, and then their group grew to include Jehan after Courf noticed them in his third period English class and decided he needed more poetry in his life. It would take another two years before Courfeyrac actually asked them out on a date.

After Jehan, it was Bahorel and Feuilly, who saved Enjolras from being beaten up by the entire football team after he started lecturing the quarterback on some sexist remark he'd made. They all met Marius when he transferred to the school at the beginning of their sophomore year. By which time Enjolras had already discovered his passion for all kinds of social issues and had started a social justice club (Courfeyrac was pretty sure that the teachers only allowed it in the hope that it would keep Enjolras from causing trouble - it didn't).

After Marius came Eponine, dragging a reluctant Grantaire in her wake. It was fairly obvious to most of the others that her initial reason for joining the club was her crush on the oblivious Marius, but she soon found herself just as active and interested as everyone else. Grantaire on the other hand seemed as invested in tearing down Enjolras' ideals as the others did in upholding them. Enjolras often asked him why he kept coming to meetings if he didn't believe in anything they fought for, he never gave a straight answer but he did keep coming and both he and Eponine were accepted fully into their circle of friends. So, Enjolras couldn't get rid of him even if he wanted to.

Enjolras was nearly the last one to arrive at the cafe, which was a rare enough occurrence that it earned him worried glances from his friends as he came over to sit with them.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I was getting another lecture," Enjolras rolled his eyes. Ever since he'd told his parents that he wouldn't be applying to any ivy league schools he'd been getting near-constant lectures from his parents about the 'family legacy' and how disappointed they were. It didn't seem to ease their minds that Enjolras was still planning on focusing on law and politics, because _'What good will that do coming from a state school?'._

"'Taire said not to wait for him, he's not getting out of work for another forty minutes," Éponine said, looking up from her phone.

Combeferre pulled out a notebook and quickly wrote down each of the schools they'd applied to, and one by one they all opened their letters, crossing out a school when any of them got a rejection letter. Combeferre and Enjolras were both accepted to every school, much to no one's surprise. By the end, of the seven schools they'd applied to, only four had been crossed out, which was incredibly lucky, especially considering Bahorel had been rejected by all four, much to his amusement. All of the others had only received one or two rejections, though Marius had been downright heartbroken to get three.

They were just discussing the three remaining schools when Grantaire arrived, still in his uniform from work, with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He looked exhausted.

"Okay, I'd like to preface this by saying that I did warn you guys not to pin your hopes and dreams onto me getting into any of these schools," he said, slumping down onto the chair next to Eponine, "and while I continue to wonder at your misplaced faith in me, you shouldn't feel bad when you inevitably have to leave me behind to rot in community college."

"Just open your damn letters R," Éponine said with affected impatience that did nothing at all to hide her fondness for the cynic. Éponine and Grantaire had been childhood friends, much in the same way as Enjolras and Combeferre, and as such Eponine was used to Grantaire's chronically pessimistic outlook. They'd both seen too much and been through too much, but while it made Éponine eagerly seek out the beautiful things and the kind people, it made Grantaire even more sure they didn't exist.

With a roll of his eyes Grantaire quickly sliced open all of the envelopes with his penknife before pulling out all of the paper. He flicked through the pages with what Enjolras could only describe as an infuriatingly unreadable expression. Grantaire quickly shook his head and then flicked through the pages again, this time at a slightly slower pace. He shook his head again.

With a disgruntled sigh, Courfeyrac grabbed the paper from Grantaire's slackened grip. Everyone watched silently as Courf read each page, his eyebrows rising incrementally higher as he turned each one.

"No way," he finally breathed when he was done, "No. Way." it was Courfeyrac's turn to shake his head. "He only went and got accepted to them all."

At this everyone was surprised, not least Grantaire himself. Grantaire was always fairly secretive about his grades and while he always complained he was going to fail out of every class, he never actually shared his scores. Everyone just assumed he actually was failing, after all, they all knew how much time he spent, when he wasn’t working his two jobs, just goofing off rather than doing homework or studying for tests.

But the thing was, Grantaire actually had been doing well in school, despite the minimal amount of effort he put in. Yeah, he usually did his homework on the morning it was due, but he always did it. And while it was true he more often than not came to class a little late, he never actually skipped any lessons.

"Wait, it says here you have a 4.0 GPA," Enjolras noted, skimming over the pages Courfeyrac has passed him. "There's no way you have a 4.0 GPA, 'Ferre doesn't even have a 4.0 GPA," which was true, if only because he'd always struggled with geometry.

"Don't sound so surprised Apollo," Grantaire retorted, finally coming back to his senses. His indignation might've held more weight if he didn't still look shocked himself.

It didn't take long for everyone to start animatedly talking about the three schools they had to choose from. Grantaire and Éponine were having a whispered conversation, Enjolras caught himself glancing over, wondering what they were talking about before mentally shaking himself and turning back to his conversation with Combeferre.

It ended up taking a while for them to decide on a school. Each one had persuasive arguments and really the group was split, whether it was because one had a better department (Jehan fought admirably for one school based on it's English department), because of distance (Marius was determined to go to the school furthest away simply to get away from his grandfather's influence) or even because of a specific Professor (Enjolras was desperate to study under one of his idols and when it seemed he may have the chance he looked almost childlike in his desperation, which was almost enough to convince the others, but not quite).

The decision ended up being made for them when Éponine and Grantaire got their scholarship letters back. Only one school would offer them both a full scholarship that included housing and everything and so that was really the only school they could go to. Marius and Jehan were only briefly upset that their schools were now off the table, Enjolras tried to hide his excitement but the others knew him too well for that.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that Enjolras noticed something was wrong, and really the fact that he noticed at all was something of a marvel, but that no one else had noticed was even more peculiar. Enjolras had never really paid Grantaire much attention outside of arguing with him, at best he was a part-time friend, full-time irritant. But something was different about him lately and whatever it was, Enjolras had noticed. But, he wasn't sure what to do with that.

It wasn't until after a week of worrying, which was frankly more time than he'd ever given to consider Grantaire before, that Enjolras decided he should just ask the other boy what was wrong and be done with it. He didn't get the chance to ask until after the meeting the following week when he managed to speak to Grantaire alone.

"Hey Grantaire," he started, getting the other boy's attention. Ice blue eyes locked with his own slightly darker blue ones and suddenly he wasn't sure what he was going to do with the attention now he had it.

"What can I do for you Apollo?" even his teasing sounded tired.

"Are you- I mean, you've been I guess kind of…different lately and- Are you alright?" Enjolras mentally kicked himself. He'd never been less eloquent in his life, but he had to admit to himself this situation was a little out of his comfort zone.

"I'm fine," Grantaire replied with no small amount of confusion. "Nothing to worry your pretty little head about anyway."

"Grantaire, I'm serious. I know we're not exactly close, but you are my friend and if something's wrong, you should know you can talk to me," Enjolras was almost surprised to find that he honestly meant it. But he was also distinctly aware that he really didn't know Grantaire very well, despite nearly three years of being in the same friendship group.

"Why now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've been barely tolerating my existence for the past few years and now suddenly you want me to believe you care?" Grantaire almost wanted to stop the words as soon as they left his mouth. Finally, the guy he'd been totally in love with pretty much since they met was talking to him with something other than disdain. He could already feel himself ruining it.

"You're right," both boys were acutely aware Enjolras had never conceded to Grantaire before, ever. Even when Grantaire had, in fact, been right, "I haven't ever really been a good friend to you, and maybe that's because I'm not really sure how to be your friend, but honestly, that's no excuse. And I can tell something's been bothering you, and it has been for at least a couple of weeks and so, if you want to talk about it, or even if you don't, I'm here," Enjolras wasn't even aware of what he was saying until the words left his mouth. He was a little surprised to discover that every word was the truth and that maybe he'd been giving it more thought in the past few weeks than he wanted to admit.

"I'm not entirely sure what to do with that," Grantaire shifted his weight slightly on his feet. "What does that even mean?" the words _'I'm not really sure how to be your friend'_ echoing around in Grantaire's mind. "Look, I get that I'm kind of an asshole and honestly I'm surprised you've put up with me for this long, you don't have to pretend with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't need to pretend to like me or care about my well being or whatever," Grantaire shrugged, frankly eager for this conversation to be over. This wasn't the kind of conversation he wanted to be having with Enjolras, ever.

"Surprisingly enough, I do care," Enjolras said genuinely. It was a surprise to him.

"Oh. Well, that's…surprising," Grantaire said lamely and both boys looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Grantaire eventually admitted that he was worried about leaving his mother and younger sister behind when they all went off to college and that it was causing a lot of tension for him at home. Enjolras didn’t really know what to say, which didn’t happen to him often, but he did listen as Grantaire spoke. 

Later, both men would point to this as the conversation that changed everything for them.

**Author's Note:**

> As you can see, I've strongly hinted at them getting together in the future. It's possible I didn't post this because I was going to write a sequel set several years down the line? But unfortunately, that is probably not going to happen now. 
> 
> But! If you enjoyed this little thing, kudos and comments are always loved <3


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